EAGLES 4, EVERBLADES 1

LOVELAND — Adam Brown is probably in for a nice steak dinner, courtesy of his captain.

After all, if it weren’t for one of the oddest plays of Riley Nelson’s career, Brown could have had his first shutout as a pro.

The Colorado Eagles were leading the Florida Everblades 2-0 late in the second period and completely dominating play Saturday night.

The Eagles (8-7-1-2, 19 points) were suffocating the Everblades (7-7-1-3, 18 points) attack and not allowing any good chances. Then Nelson picked up a loose puck in front of his own goalie and inexplicably passed it right through the legs of his own goalie. It looked like Nelson was caught between two ideas of passing behind the net or across the face of goal.

“I’ll make sure to get him something nice for bailing me out like that,” Nelson said of Brown. “That stuff happens. Unfortunately I’m the butt of the jokes tonight, but we got the two points and salvaged a good weekend for us.”

Instead of giving Florida momentum after the fluky goal, Colorado punched right back with yet another slick goal from the explosive top line.

A mere two minutes after seeing the lead cut to 2-1, Chad Costello scored on a one-timer to make it 3-1 after a slick passing play from Jack Combs and Michael Forney. The Eagles won the game 4-1 after Trent Daavettila scored an empty-net goal from behind his own net.

The story of the game, however, was Brown. Saturday was his first appearance since Oct. 20 and only his fourth of the season. He was excellent all night long. He made a big save on a 2-on-1 in the second and seconds later Forney scored to make it 2-0 and stopped 23 shots.

“The team played really well in front of me, they didn’t give up a whole lot,” Brown said. “They kept most of the shots to the outside, then they boxed guys out for rebounds. They made my job a lot easier.”

Colorado found itself in a tricky spot in the first minute of the game when Ryan Schnell took a double-minor, giving a Florida team that scored three power play goals on Friday night a prime opportunity to take an early lead.

But the Eagles set the tone, easily killing off the four minutes without giving up any good chances.

“If I was looking at one thing that motivated us throughout the game it was the first four-minute penalty kill,” Eagles coach Chris Stewart said. “It gave us momentum, it gave us confidence. I think it helped us go through the game with confidence.”

With the win Colorado comes away with four of a possible six points against the ECHL’s defending champions. The Eagles now will look to carry some momentum onto the road, where they have yet to win a game.

Follow sports reporter Kevin Lytle on Twitter @Kevin_Lytle and friend him on Facebook.